


Swim Shoots

by WeHadABondingMoment



Series: Adrien Angst [3]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien Agreste Has Issues, Adrien Agreste Needs Help, Adrien Agreste Needs Love, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir Makes Puns, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir Needs a Hug, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Bad Parent Gabriel Agreste, Canonical Child Abuse, Child Neglect, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Hurt Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Light Angst, Marichat, Oblivious Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Other, Platonic Marichat - Freeform, marichat friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-03
Updated: 2019-11-03
Packaged: 2021-01-22 03:33:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21294446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WeHadABondingMoment/pseuds/WeHadABondingMoment
Summary: "Did my last swim shoot of the year today”- Adrien Agreste's instagramOr: How the hell is Adrien's dad okay with his 14-year old son getting nearly naked for the camera?Not a lot of talking about the actual shoots.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Series: Adrien Angst [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1500095
Comments: 13
Kudos: 443





	Swim Shoots

When Marinette heard a dull noise, she hadn’t thought much of it.  
After all, it was not the first time that Chat Noir made himself comfortable on her balcony. The first few times she had been confused, but one night she had simply come up to him and asked him why he was going to her for his nocturnal visits.

He’d told her that the atmosphere just gave him a sense of security. The smell of baked goods from the shop below, mixed with the phenomenal view she was allowed to enjoy... She understood him, she really did.

When her partner asked her if this was a problem for her and noted that he could go to another location as well, she felt the need to hug him.  
Of course it was okay for her!

Some days she kept him company and the two just talked. Marinette was a bit unsure as he started to trust her very quickly, but on the other hand she had already fought with him against an akuma and he knew of her double (triple?) life as a multi-mouse. Plus, she really enjoyed talking to her favorite cat after a week full of hard work.

When Chat Noir did came to visit, the superhero in the leather suit always came on Tuesdays, and such a Chat-day was today.

So yes, when she heard the well-known sound of a body hitting the floor below her and the soft tinkle of his bell, Marinette was definitely not surprised.  
But when she could make out a suppressed sob, that quickly changed.

Chat Noir was so many things. Brave, selfless, funny (not that she would ever admit that)... But she had never heard him cry before.

Of course he had bad days, but on those he seemed to withdraw any emotion from his body. His jokes and flirty quotes were usually absent on those days, his movements too slow and predictable.  
Sometimes, his body seemed to move on autopilot. His posture and locomotion looked somehow mechanical, as if he were a robot.

Dissociation, had Alya called it, after she noticed it several times on her attempts to record the newest battle for the ladyblog.

A wave of relief had seized the 14-year-old, when she had researched it and saw on several websites mentioned that dissociation was something that wasn’t unusual in teenagers, as the brain in its development could send out dissociative impulses.

Despite this, the superhero's behavior was regularly like that when she suspected that something negative happened in his life and she guessed it was just his way of dealing with bad emotions.

Sometimes she forgot that her partner was, too, just a human, another civilian of Paris. Someone who experienced emotions just like everyone else did.

There was a sense of guilt in her as she realized that she almost never asked him how he was feeling. Chat often greeted her with the subsequent question of how her day had been.  
But rarely did she ask the question back, she didn’t even think about it.

Maybe she should transform into Ladybug and ask her favorite cat for a conversation?

Marinette took a moment to wonder if this was really a wise decision. Impressing her seemed to be important to her partner, and most of the time he avoided her rare questions about his well-being, even if he obviously suffered. Of the few conversations with him as a Marinette, she had learned more about Chat's sensitive side than in all the time she’s been Ladybug.

With a shudder she realized that this was mainly her fault. He had offered her to hang out after patrolling - she had just always refused because usually, he was asking obviously for a date.  
However, she had never offered him to meet up as friends either. Too big was her fear of telling him too much about her civilian life. Too big was her fear of failing Master Fu and Tikki.

It had never been her intention to stop him from talking to her about things that bothered him.

Marinette knew that Tikki would contradict. After all, her partner had never tried to talk to her about it either. However, she couldn’t help but feel like a failure.

She really needed to work on the relationship to her partner.

Now he didn’t need Ladybug. The best support she could offer him here and now was being Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

With a determined expression on her face, she began to climb the ladder up to her balcony. "Crap," she cursed as she slipped and slammed against the ladder.  
One would think, after all these years, she would have got the hang of it but nooo...

When she finally made it to the balcony, she stared in astonishment at the scene that unfolded in front of her. She had expected that her partner to hear her footsteps and to look at her apologetically but he seemed far too deep in his own world.

However, that was not the reason for her surprise. Chat Noir held his phone in his hand and listened to music, not just any music though, Kitty Section.  
The band that consisted of their classmates and their family.

Marinette would never have assumed that her partner would like such a genre. Somehow, he looked more like a guy for... Marinette's eyebrows went up in an attempt to find a genre that described her partner. But somehow everything seemed to fit equally well. Okay, maybe not operatic singing.

A smile decorated Marinette's lips as she began to imagine her partner in the midst of an opera, screaming lyrics and extending vocals until he passed out.

With a strong shake of her head, she brought herself back into reality. She hadn’t come here to imagine her partner in various crazy scenarios. She had time to do that the next time he was Banana Noir.

Oh God - Banana Noir in a soap opera.

Okay, Marinette. Concentration.

A deep breath, a cough.

Chat turned around so quickly that Marinette was already worried that his cell phone would slip from his hand and fall down the balcony.

"Princess?"

His eyes widened, presumably because he became aware of his current position and he rose hastily.

"I'm sorry, I didn’t expect you to be still awake. I’ll leave immediately. "

"Chat," Marinette responded, was ignored by the young hero. "Chat," she repeated; more emphasis in her voice.

"Stay."

When the boy stopped, she let out an innerly sigh of relief.  
For a moment, both paused, unsure what to do next, then the baker's daughter decided to address the obvious thing.

"You know Kitty Section?"

Her partner scratched the back of his head, a habit on his part where she still didn’t know whether it was was sweet or not and nodded. "I like their music."

"Me too."

These two sentences led to a long conversation about the band and their songs and Chat's knowledge of these surprised Marinette. Somehow they ended up on the hanging swing that Marinette had recently received; snuggled up in one of her warm, fluffy blankets, each with a cup of hot cocoa in their hands.

It was nice. As long as he stopped trying to flirt all the time, the superhero was amazingly good at making conversation and entertaining her.

"Hey, Mari!"

She glanced over at Chat Noir, who handed her his staff on which a video ran. She watched it for a few seconds and laughed. "Seriously, kitty? Are you really looking at cat memes with Ladybug and Chat Noir faces in your spare time? "

The overeager nod of the teen next to her made her slap her hand over her forehead and she sank a little deeper into the blanket. "Why am I talking to you?"

"Because I'm purrfect."

"Help! Someone save me from this cat! "

Chat Noir started to giggle. During her conversation, Marinette suddenly realized that she had forgotten that Chat knew her as a Chat Noir fan. Fortunately, he seemed a lot more relaxed after she let herself be natural.

She almost forgot the reason for her visit. But he seemed so happy right now. She could see the wrinkles around his eyes and he had been constantly smiling for the last few minutes. Still, if she didn’t ask him soon, she might forget it.

"Heyy, chat?"

"What’s up, princess? Do you not want to be saved from me anymore? "

She shook her head. "Your make-up is completely smudged because you were crying so much earlier. Should I apply some new make-up? "

Chat Noir froze. His left hand moved to his face to rub over his eyes. He gave his now makeup stained fingers an irritated look.

"I thought it was waterproof... I'm sorry, Mari."

"You don't have to apologize for something like this!" Marinette took a deep breath and added, "I'll get my bag, wait a sec". This time she spoke without the inisting undertone.

As she climbed down to her room, she caught sight of Tikki, surrounded by biscuit crumbs, apparently asleep. With a gentle smile, her chosen one raised the kwami and placed her on one of the pillows in her bed.

Too bad kwami's couldn’t be photographed... Tikki looked so peaceful as she layed down, sleeping...

Oh right, the make-up.

With quick steps she entered the bathroom and got the necessary utensils from the cupboard inside. As she turned, her eyes fell on her reflection and she shuddered. Her hair was a mess, on all sides  
were strands of hair and one of her pigtails had loosened a lot.

With a sigh, she put the bag on the floor and opened her braids. The hair ties wrapped around her wrist, she began to search for a brush to bring at least some order in her hair.

When she finally got back to her balcony, Chat was looking at his phone once again.  
For a moment he looked smaller than before, but then she saw that he had just cuddled up into the blaket.  
He seemed a little… worn out.

"Kitten?"

His eyes shot in her direction, a scared look on his face. As soon as their eyes met, he seemed to relax and she let out a relieved breath.

"Come here," she murmured, spreading her arms. Almost hesitantly he got up and ran to her. She took a few steps in this direction and hugged him.  
"It's all alright," she mumbled softly, scratching him lightly behind the ears.

She felt the tension drain from his body and led him back to the hanging swing.

For a moment, they just sat there in silence until Marinette decided to address the topic. "What's going on, chaton?"

The boy drew his legs to his body and rested his chin on it, still leaning against her touch.

She continued to scratch him and for a moment he closed his eyes in pleasure, before his eyes opened again and he began to speak.

"You know... I'm pretty popular in my civilian life."

The young designer didn’t understand the problem with that, but felt that something was still coming, so she encouraged her friend to continue.

"I can not say too much, but let's pretend that I'm a swimmer."

"Okay," she approed and looked at her partner. The moonlight that reflected in his eyes and the relaxed attitude gave him something melancholish, a side she was not used to see on her partner.

But it was nice. Not that Chat was sad, but to be able to talk to him and be herself. It was nice to be friends.

"I'm a successful swimmer, so my dad insists I have an Instagram account where I upload regular pictures to get even more famous."

The young superhero paused, presumably in search of a description of what was about to come.

"It's not really a problem for me. I have the opportunity to meet so many new people and I like the photos of my friends so they get more followers. But as a male swimmer people see you, sooner or later, without… well… a shirt and that stuff. "

Oh.

Oh.

His cheeks were covered with a soft blush, but she didn’t look any better.

"But... um... What's the problem? You don’t have a ... uh ... bad body. "  
Marinette wanted to bury her face in her hands.

Chat Noir shifted his weight and positioned his hands between his legs, his eyes fixed on the floor.

"That’s not the problem. It’s just..."

He glanced aside. "The comments, Mari. All the people who write what they would like to do with me and all that stuff ... "

Marinette's eyes widened. She knew how uncomfortable it was for her when people sexualized her as Ladybug, even if that wasn’t as bad as it would be if they were doing it to her true identity. She grimaced and her fingers dug a bit more into her partner's hair.

"Can’t you just stop uploading pictures?"

Of course, that wasn’t a perfect solution, but it would be better than nothing.

"You don’t understand. If it was up to me, I wouldn’t even mo- uh… swim. "

Her partner's voice was so desperate that Marinette felt the need to hug him and never let go.

"And why is it not up to you?"  
She used her free arm to press it on the swing and look him in the eyes.

"It's expected of me. I don’t want to upset anyone. "

Her face right in front of his, she looked him intensely into the eyes. "Listen to me, kitty cat. If anyone makes you uncomfortable, then you don’t have to do anything. If someone is mad at you for deciding not to not let yourself get sexualized- "

Chat winced at the word, but she continued. "- then this person is not worthy of you and you get my permission to use them as a personal shield at the next akuma attack!"

A faint smile formed on the teenager's face.

"Thank you princess. But it's not that easy. "

And her partner started talking. Of how important it was to his father that his son was good enough. Of his fear to fail him. Of the feeling that his father didn’t love him and how he hoped his father might sometimes have dinner with him or something like that, if only he could be good enough.

Marinette's arms were wrapped around the boy's body in an attempt to make him feel that she was there. That he wasn’t alone.

The air was filled with the creaking of the hanging swing and the sounds of sobs shaking through her partner's body.

Marinette herself had tears in her eyes, too. When she thought of what it would be like to be in her partner's shoes, how much pressure it had to be to always act perfect and yet not be enough ...

And the superhero duo paused in their movements, pressed against the other's warming body, the elder in search of support and the younger in an attempt to give as much love to other as they could.

A few hours later, her eyes were dry as if nothing had ever happened, yet they didn’t dare to break apart, the boy's fear of being lonely was too big. Too big was the girl's fear of letting her partner go, back to a father colder than the winter-cold night air that surrounded them.

The girl closed her eyes and snuggled closer to her partner.

For the time being, this was okay.


End file.
